Guild Healthcare

On this page

• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

Effective – this means we looked for evidence that people’s care, treatment and support achieved good outcomes and promoted a good quality of life, based on best available evidence. At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained good. This meant people’s outcomes were consistently good, and people’s feedback confirmed this.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The provider made sure people’s care and treatment was effective by assessing and reviewing their health, care, wellbeing and communication needs with them.

Care workers confirmed that clear and comprehensive assessments were undertaken to identify people’s care and support needs. This was also echoed by people and their relatives. People and relatives were central to their assessment to ensure it reflected what they wanted to achieve from the service.

One relative told us, “We have a care plan and the manager completed a full history of [relative] and her likes and dislikes as well as health needs and contact numbers.”

All the information gathered during the assessment process was clearly detailed in people’s care records to ensure it was captured and made available to those involved in people’s care. We saw evidence care plans were reviewed and the service have systems and processes in place to ensure that these reviews take place regularly. Peoples ongoing care needs were reviewed to ensure records remained accurate and care could be delivered in an effective way.

The provider planned and delivered people’s care and treatment with them, including what was important and mattered to them. They did this in line with legislation and current evidence-based good practice and standards.

People’s care and support plans included reference to best practice guidance and staff received regular training to ensure their knowledge and skill stayed up to date.

We saw evidence of a joined-up approach between the service and health staff such as GPs and community-based professionals. This ensured support was provided in a collaborative way, which focused on what was important to the person.

People told us that care staff and management escalated concerns appropriately and reliably.

The provider worked well across teams and services to support people. They made sure people only needed to tell their story once by sharing their assessment of needs when people moved between different services.

The staff team worked together in a collaborative way. The service completed a comprehensive initial assessment with people to understand their wishes, needs and desired outcomes. This was shared with staff in a clear and transparent way, so staff knew how best to support people. Staff we spoke with expressed they felt they worked well as a team and had a shared dedication for caring for people who use the service. Staff understood the process of working with other services and could demonstrate examples of this.

Staff told us the on-call system was always accessible and they were confident they would be able to reach a senior member of staff should they need to.

The provider supported people to manage their health and wellbeing to maximise their independence, choice and control. Staff supported people to live healthier lives and where possible, reduce their future needs for care and support.

People were supported to live independently. People were actively consulted and involved on what was important to them and how they wanted to manage their health and wellbeing. Care plans focused on people’s strengths to ensure staff did not remove people’s independence and provided support in the areas where people required support. Care plans were strength focused, meaning staff encouraged people to remain as independent as possible, with clear guidance also available on how best to support people. Staff were trained on how to prepare meals in a healthy way which supported people to live healthier lives.

The provider routinely monitored people’s care and treatment to continuously improve it. They ensured that outcomes were positive and consistent, and that they met both clinical expectations and the expectations of people themselves.

Care plans were regularly reviewed and kept up to date.

Leaders rang people on a regular basis to undertake telephone call reviews. These calls gave people the opportunity to give feedback on what was working well and what needed improvement. The service also sent yearly feedback surveys to people and analysed the feedback to promote continuous improvement.

One person told us, “I find the care meets my needs, and it has a very positive impact on my life.” Staff felt confident escalating concerns and they consistently told us leaders would listen to them.

The provider told people about their rights around consent and respected these when delivering person-centred care and treatment.

Peoples consent was actively and continuously sought. People, and their representatives as appropriate, were given appropriate information relating to decisions about the care they received People who were unable to consent had a Mental Capacity Assessment and Best Interests Decision in place, involving those people important to the person. Consent was not a static event, and staff understood the importance of continually seeking consent and keeping a record of this.